Day 31. Challenge Complete.

We’ve Made It!

By Br. Matt Wooters

Zac and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. He was my brother’s childhood best friend. We spent all day, every day of summer at the neighborhood pool with our motley crew of friends. The pool and our swim team were our whole lives from the ages of four to 18, at least from late May until early August. Like routine, at the end of July, the whole gang was invited up the hill from the pool to the gazebo for pizza and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake to celebrate my birthday. For my brothers and I, my birthday was always bittersweet because it signified the end of the swim season and saying goodbye to our summer friends. And then we would begin the long nine month wait until we’d all gather again at the pool.

I’m experiencing a similar feeling this year as #31minsforpeace comes to a close. There’s a deep recognition of great joy in what we have created together this month: an intentional community of prayer and mindfulness. I also notice a twinge of sadness at it comes to a close. But, this challenge was never meant to go on forever. This challenge is at its end, yes. And yet this challenge is also a beginning.

My prayer for each of you is that you continue to seek and carve out time in your day for prayer or meditation. It might take a different form as the momentum of this challenge draws to a close. However, try to incorporate what worked for you this month. Look back at the time and space you permitted yourself and recall how you felt incorporating a little bit of peace in your life. Allow those feelings to spark inspiration for you to continue this journey. As St. Ignatius tells us, the Creator desires to work directly with the creation. And in this instance, the creation is you.

I can think of no greater birthday present than people trying their best to notice the Holy Ordinary and acknowledging the world around them with radical gratitude. Thank you for starting this journey with us! Your path continues! Go boldly!